Ranger's Apprentice
by lunarphase
Summary: My character, Moira Taylor becomes Halt's new apprentice. I am not very good at summaries, but I believe it's a pretty good story myself so please read and tell me what you think!((fixed some vocabulary and spelling issues in ch. 2))
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first ever Ranger's Apprentice fanfiction, so be nice but helpful criticism is appreciated. This will obviously be a bit different from the books(though I'm only at the start of book 7 so I'm still new anyways). So yea! We'll see how this turns out~ ((No romance(from my OC or Alyss/Will or anyone else) for starters and if there are others that I think are major I'll tell you guys)). ****I also do not own Ranger's Apprentice. John Flanagan does.**

**((**New character(OC): Moira Taylor as Gilan's younger sister. Age: 15, Copper hair color, blue eyes, Height: 5'0, Weight: 105**))**

Ranger's Apprentice

(Moira's POV)

"Come on, Moira. You don't want to keep Halt waiting on your first training session do you?" My brother, Gilan came into my room already dressed in his usual ranger attire.

I rub the sleep from my eyes before jumping out of bed to get ready, "I know, I know but you know I'm not good at waking up this early. Why didn't you come get me earlier?" I ask, annoyed.

He grinned, "hey now, you knew when Halt agreed to mentor you, you had to learn to do these day-to-day things on your own."

I sighed, "alright, I get it."

Gil and I walked together to Halt's cabin. To our delight, Will was already there.

"Hey Will!" I called, running up to the boy and he turned and smiled, "Good morning, Moira, Gil," he greeted before ruffling my copper colored hair much to my major dislike.

"You ready for today?" Will asked, grinning as I fixed my hair.

"Yep!" I exclaimed.

The three older rangers smiled at my current energy, "better be ready though. Halt is a strict mentor."

"I knew that too when I chose to do this, you know," I say and I roll my eyes.

Their grins widened, "alright, just making sure you know what you're getting in to."

"So, I trust Gil has already begun teaching you the basics?" Halt questioned as we walked to the back of the cabin where we would train.

I nodded, "yes sir…but I don't have a very good aim. I'm most of the time off the target by a lot."

"We can fix that. You just have to cooperate with me, alright?"

"Okay," I nod again.

"Good."

We get there shortly after our small conversation and I pull out my already strung recurve bow and put my saxe and throwing knives into my belt.

Halt watched, "I'm surprised to see you already have your weapons."

I smile and turn to him, "You know Gil wouldn't allow me to not carry these ready for use anyway…and they're his from when he was your apprentice."

"I can see that," Halt said blandly, "I can see the marks he made on it with his many past mistakes."

I grin, "he did tell me about those."

Halt smiled, "yes, and now it's your turn. So let's see what you already know and what we need to fix."

I nod again before getting into position. Feet apart at shoulder width, my left hand holding the bow steady, putting my right hand's index finger on the top of the arrow and middle and ring fingers on the bottom…then came the problem.

I drew the arrow, using only my arm's strength.

Halt held up a hand, "I see where your problem is," he said as he walked closer, "you cannot only use your arm muscles to draw and shoot. You have to use your back muscles as well or you won't have a stable shot."

"Alright…" I say as I try again, this time finding it easier to draw the bow and shoot. As soon as I let go the arrow, instead of going to the side shot right at the target and hit it's center.

I beamed as it hit it's actual mark and turned to Halt, "how was that?" I ask.

"Much better," he replied, "however, you are going to have to retain this information and achieve a much faster draw and shoot rate. Your enemies won't give you a break."

"Yes sir," I respond, a little upset he responded that way, but didn't show it in any way. I knew he was right anyway, "that's what we train for, right?" I say with a smile.

Halt nods and lets out a small grunt of approval, "but for now," he says, "I believe Gilan is here to pick you up."

"Already?" I ask, surprised.

He shrugged, "he said to not push you too hard for the first few days. He's just worried too much on the first day could put a big strain on you."

"…besides," we hear from the side and we turn toward the direction of the voice to find Gilan, "I think we should save the harder work for when you learn to get up on your own. If we try to do it all now, you'll just be late everyday because I'll have to get you up," he laughed while I blushed.

"Hey," I say warningly, "I never was a morning person and you know it."

My brother and mentor shook their heads before Gilan responded again, "alright, we'll just work on that then, won't we?" He smiled.

"Yes, I guess so," I sigh, "hopefully it won't be too hard for long…"

"What did you work on today?" Gilan asked when we were back at our place.

"Not much," I shrug, "Halt just asked me to show him the way I shot. You know, since I never got it right before…how come you never told me? I know you could have shown me before Halt."

He smiled gently, "Moira, I was trying to get you to see on your own. Rangers have to learn to do that you know, and it wasn't really that hard a fix so I thought you would handle it," he shrugged.

"I'm sorry…"

He looked back at me and put a hand on my shoulder, "hey, don't beat yourself up. You'll get better. It just takes practice," he smiled reassuringly.

I smile back, "you're right. I just hope it won't be too hard to learn."

"I'm not going to lie to you, it is very challenging. That's what Halt, Will, and I are there for though. To help you get better."

"You guys have your own responsibilities," I point out.

"True, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help you as well. We were all in your position once too, so we know how you feel."

I nod, realizing his point and we smile at each other, "so, how about we eat first then go outside to work on your technique?"

"Okay!" I say excitedly and we set to work fixing dinner.

**Ok! So first chapter over. Did you like it? Dislike it? Review and tell me, please. ****J I would love to hear from you~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, it's me again~ I was going to wait a little while longer to write the next chapter, but I felt bored and that I really wanted to continue this ^^ Here we go! (There are some spoilers for the books 5 and 6 so if you haven't read those yet and don't want them spoiled don't read)..**

Ranger's Apprentice chapter 2

"Good morning, Gil," I walk into the living room of our cabin fully dressed in my new apprentice uniform and cloak.

Gilan looked up and smiled, "well, good morning Moira. I wasn't expecting to see you up this early," he said looking outside to see what time it was, "it's only nine, by the look of it."

I smile and walk over to where he was sitting to sit down next to him, "I'm excited for today, so even if I wanted to I probably wouldn't be able to sleep any longer," I explain, then look to what he was working on, "what's this?" I ask.

He smiles showing it to me, "oh, it's just a report to the king. We had a bit of a problem in Norgate fief."

My eyes widen, "with the sorcerer?" I ask fearfully and Gilan shakes his head, "oh no, I forgot to tell you the events from last time. That was just a trick, don't worry there's no sorcerer."

I breathe a sigh of relief before replying again, "ok, but if it wasn't a sorcerer or anything…what was it?" I ask curious.

"The people there still think there's a sorcerer in those woods. They rose up against the castle because Orman was defending the sorcerer, or so they think. Malcolm is just a healer."

"…but, if Orman knows why didn't he tell them? To prevent something like this?"

"Malcolm wanted his secret hidden so he could still live in peace with his people. We had to respect that," Gilan explains gently.

"I guess so…"

He smiles, "it'll be alright, just trust me, ok? We fixed it anyway, so nothing to worry about."

"Well that's good…I just hope it doesn't happen again."

"Yes, but if it does, same goes for any other problem with arises, we'll be there to stop it and as will you when you are ready," he says with a reassuring smile.

I nod, "you're right," I smile back.

"Good morning Halt," I say as he opens the door.

"Morning. I'm glad you're not nearly late today; ready for your training?"

"Yes sir," I smile, ignoring the first part, "what will we be working on today?"

"Before we do anything you are going to first learn how to shoot arrows in rapid succession, then we'll work on doing the same while staying out of sight or moving," he explained with a small smile.

"Ok…" I trail off as I walk over to the target range. I pick an arrow from my pouch and shoot it, getting another arrow from the pouch each time before the first arrow hit it's mark and shooting those as well. I quickly started to feel my arm tiring and stop to rest.

"Why have you stopped?" Halt asks and I realize that he has been behind me the entire time. I turn quickly toward his position, "I thought you stayed at the cabin?"

"I did," he replied, "but I came to watch your progress."

"At least let me know," I pout, "you startled me."

He shrugged, indifferent to the problem, "you didn't answer my question."

I hold my arm, "well, my arm was getting tired because of all the movement so I took a break. Is there a way to lessen the back and forth movements?"

"There is, but what is it?" Halt questioned.

I thought for a minute before slowly voicing my idea, "maybe…already having a few arrows in hand as you shoot one?"

Halt made a gesture with his hand to continue, "let's see it then."

I look back at the target drawing four arrows shooting each with ease into the target. I did this a few more times realizing that my arm wasn't near as tired as it was getting before. It barely was at all if there even was a trace of fatigue in arm strength.

I continued doing this until Halt stopped me, "alright," he said, "now do you think you're ready for a moving target?"

I look at him, "moving target? How do we get that?"

"Well, you don't want to shoot anything innocent now do you? I mean you shoot while you run. On the battlefield of course your targets will move to avoid being shot, so even if we can't move our targets now you can shoot while you are moving instead of them. It has basically the same tactics either way."

"So, how would you shoot a moving target?" I ask, inwardly daunted by the task.

Halt sighs before explaining, "you have to picture where you are shooting in your mind, picture where you would point and shoot the arrow before you do so. It should be easy enough if you know your bow's strength and how much it can cover in a distance before dropping."

I nod, "yes, but if your target is also moving you would have to add in the information about where it will be in the next couple of seconds…how do we know..?"

"It depends on how fast it's moving, however we can't practice that here. You will have to learn for yourself when the time comes. Now, start over there," Halt said pointing to a spot to the left of the target.

I walk over to the spot and Halt moves out of the way giving me the 'go ahead' signal. I run as fast as I can placing an arrow into the bow and drawing before calculating the shot and shooting. Unfortunately, however, the arrow sailed past the target by a few centimeters. I stare blankly at the missed target and run back to the spot to try again.

After a while I start to hit the mark with the first shot and switch to another position and repeat for the rest of the session before Gilan comes to pick me up.

"I see you're doing well," Gilan says as he walks up while I'm still shooting off arrows. I turn and smile, "hi!" I greet my brother and he smiles as well. "You ready to go?"

I nod, "alright, just let me get my stuff," I say as I walk back to the cabin where Halt stored my bag and knives for me.

"That was nice of him," Gilan says as he follows me and finds my stuff on a shelf in Halt's cabin.

"Well," I reply, "I don't think it'd be good to bring this with me; it might get in the way. Could get stolen too if I left it outside, but I forgot…" I trail off.

Gilan laughed, "it's alright, I know you were excited. Next time remember to take care of your things first though, ok?"

"Ok, I'll do that," I smile sheepishly.

"So, Halt had you working on moving targets already?"

I nod at his question and smile.

"That's odd. He usually had me shoot a thousand or more arrows stationary first."

I stare at him, "a thousand?"

He grins and shrugs, "doesn't seem like much if you're fast."

"Well, true but that seems excessive."

"It was kind of excessive, but it was good practice," he smiles, "don't let Halt hear that you said that though if you don't want to do it. He seems to be going more easy on you in terms of how many he wants you to shoot."

"It's not because I'm a girl is it?" I ask with a raised eyebrow and Gilan laughs, "I doubt it. Halt knows women can be strong too, he probably just wants to have a faster training method. You know, so someone doesn't get so used to one thing and can hardly focus on another task if given."

"Makes sense," I nod, understanding his point.

He smiles and we walk the rest of the way home to rest.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, had a little bit of writer's block as well as college starting up. Anyway! Hope you like it. ****J**

Ranger's Apprentice chapter 3

I woke the next day from the sound of many people walking, running, talking, or shouting outside my window. I watched tiredly, annoyed at being woken up so early, but shrugged and got up and went out to see Gilan who, I knew, would be up this early working anyway.

"Morning Gil," I say, not paying much attention to if there were others in the room and he looks up, amused.

"Good morning," he says, but I also hear a bunch of other voices chorus with him. Startled, I look to the side table where Will, Halt, Horace, Alyss, Jenny, and Joe are all seated. I raise an eyebrow at them and back at Gilan, "Um, hi?" I reply a little confused.

They all laugh and Gilan replies gently, "Remember, Moira? Yesterday when we got back the others came over so we could discuss where we were all meeting up for the festival today. We chose to meet here because our home has the most amount of indoor space."

"Ooh…" I trailed off as I remembered the events from last night.

"So, how about you go get dressed and we'll go see what's in store for us this year?" He suggests with a smile and I nod and smile back before running back into my room.

I come out a little while later dressed in a dark leaf green shirt, the sleeves going down to my elbows; light brown capris; and my dark brown ranger boots. I had also tied my long hair into a ponytail draping it over one of my shoulders.

"When are we going?" I asked, excited to go see what there was to do right away.

Gil smiled, "as soon as we finish our coffee," he said, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste, "I don't know what you guys like about it. It tastes so bitter to me no matter what we do to it."

"All a matter of taste, Moira," he smiles again, "I'm sure you'll grow into it someday."

"I hope not," I say and they laugh.

Soon enough they all finish their drinks and we walk out of the cabin. I run ahead of them, too excited to stay behind and walk with the rest of the group.

I stop behind a big crowd of people, "what are you all watching?" I ask curiously, standing on the tip of my toes trying to see what was there. Unluckily for me, I was too short and couldn't get a single glance above anyone's heads.

A woman turns toward me and smiles; I was glad that she didn't realize my ranger status, even as apprentice ranger I've heard and seen that people where very nervous and reluctant to tell rangers anything, "there is a man up there," she begins, "he is holding an event and all of us are waiting to sign up."

I tilt my head, "what kind of event?" I asked to which she shrugged, "I don't know. I heard it was an archery contest of some kind."

"I see…" I reply back slowly, turning to look at the man on the stage whom I now had a clear view of. He didn't look very friendly, perhaps he was just the type of person who looked that way naturally, but I had my doubts. He looked to me like he was planning something; something bad.

I say goodbye to the woman and run back down the trail I came up to find the rest of the group. I found them shortly walking by the side of the dirt road, "hey, guys?" I say as I slow down and walk up to them and they look at me, "oh there you are, Moira. Why did you run up so far without us? It doesn't take that long to wait," Gilan said jokingly.

I waved off the statement, "never mind that," I say with an annoyed, anxious tone, "I think there's something bad going on at the festival."

"What do you mean, something bad?" Halt questioned, stepping forward.

"There was a man there, on the stage. He's looking for archers I guess, but he didn't look very nice. I think he is gonna use the archers to attack the village…or at least that's my best guess…"

"What did the man look like?"

"He's kind of tan, scars on his face; the most noticeable one being on his right cheek, he had a beard; brown hair, and he wore this dirty brown cloak."

A look of recognition dawns on him as I explain this, "do you know him?" I ask to which he nods, "yes, he had the nerve to try and attack the Ranger Corps once before. Myself and the other rangers stopped him of course which is how he got that scar on his cheek. I gave it to him."

I blink, "how long ago was this? That scar looked fairly new…"

Halt smiled thinly, "it was years ago. However, if I have a chance to leave a scar it can stay red for a long while."

Gilan and Will shiver behind him, "that's Halt for you. He's legendary, even in scar giving."

I knew they were trying to lighten the mood, but Halt shook his head, "this is no time for joking. We have to do something before this gets out of hand. let's all go back to the cabin; we need to be able to do what we need to and plan for this outside of enemy earshot."

"So what do we do?" I ask, curious to see what he would come up with and scared at the same time because of the attack.

"We will have to wait until he goes back to wherever he came from," Halt started, then looked to each of us to give us our instructions, "then you, Gilan, Will, and I will go at them from all sides."

I tilted my head, "just like that?" I question incredulously, "I thought we would have to scout them first or something."

Halt allowed himself a small smile, "that is very true. I wanted to see if you would see what I left out."

I blushed lightly, barely noticeable thankfully, but I never liked being the center of attention even for a short while.

Halt sensed my discomfort and changed the subject back to what was really the problem, "so, Gil? Do you think you're up for it?"

He beamed, "of course!"

"Alright, just be careful and stay out of sight if you decide to follow him when he's walking back," then he paused, "I know you know," he sighed, "I can't help myself sometimes."

Gilan smiled, "yes, I know. Thank you for the advice, however."

Soon afterward, Gilan went back to the trail to spy on the area and be able to trace tracks if he wasn't there in the passing daylight. We lost sight of him instantly and Will and I shook our heads, "you know, sometimes I forget he's a master at unseen movement. I know we all are, but that's still unsettling to see," Will deadpanned.

**And I'll stop there J Anyway, I may still be slow updating because of school, but we'll see. Bye~**


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